Windows Phone Versions
Not to be confused with List of Windows Phone versions or Windows Phone versions log! To see the OS versions of Windows Mobile, check Windows Mobile Versions! Windows Phone 7 Windows Phone 7 was the first release of the Windows Phone mobile client operating system, released worldwide on October 21, 2010, and in the United States on November 8, 2010. Windows Phone 7.5 At the 2011 Mobile World Congress, Steve Ballmer announced a major update to Windows Phone 7 due toward the end of the year, Windows Phone 7.5, codenamed Mango. The new OS would address many of the platform's shortcomings, including a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 that supports the same web standards and graphical capability as the desktop version, multi-tasking of third-party apps, Twitter integration for the People Hub, and Windows Live SkyDrive access. Although the OS internally identifies itself as version 7.1, it is marketed as version 7.5 in all published materials intended for end-users. Microsoft started rolling out Windows Phone 7.5 to both the United States and International markets on September 27, 2011. The first phones that came pre-loaded with Windows Phone 7.5 were released in the last quarter of 2011. Tango update A minor update released in 2012 known as "Tango", along with other bug fixes, would also lower the hardware requirements to allow for devices with 800 MHz CPUs and 256 MB of RAM to run Windows Phone. Certain resource-intensive features are also disabled on these phones, and the Windows Phone Store will also prevent the installation of apps that are considered to be too intensive for use on weaker hardware. The lower requirements were adopted in order to allow the development of lower-cost devices, particularly to target emerging markets such as China. Windows Phone 7.8 Previously released Windows Phone hardware is incapable of being upgraded to Windows Phone 8, due to changes in the kernel requirements and hardware specifications. However, Microsoft announced at the Windows Phone 8 announcement event that Windows Phone 7.x devices would receive a free upgrade to Windows Phone 7.8. Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7.8 alongside Windows Phone 8 and began pushing the update to devices in January 2013. It added some features from the Windows NT based Windows Phone 8, backported to Windows Phone 7. These features included the updated start screen that allowed users to resize live tiles, additional theme colors, and an update to the lock screen that would optionally display the daily Bing homepage picture automatically. Windows Phone 7.8 does not support USSD. Windows Phone 8 GDR1 General Distribution Release 1, a minor update known as Portico was rolled out on December 2012 that brought some improvements and bugfixes, including enhancements in Messaging, more efficient Bluetooth connectivity, and an "always-on" setting for WiFi connections, among other additional platform updates GDR2 Microsoft rolled out a package of minor updates called General Distribution Release 2, beginning in July 2013 and spanning the following months, depending on the manufacturer and carrier. Along with this update Nokia released its own update which updated the firmware of the user, namely Lumia Amber, which was available for only Lumia phones. The update brought many camera improvements and fixed some bugs in the cameras of existing Lumia phones. GDR3 On October 14, 2013, Microsoft released the third General Distribution Release update for Windows Phone 8, which would roll out to phones over the following months. Windows Phone Developers were among the first to receive the update under a new Developer Preview Program. Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1 General Distribution Release 1 (GDR1; also referred to as Update 1) adds new language and region support for Cortana, the option to organize apps into folders on the Start Screen, SMS forwarding of multiple messages, improvements to Xbox Music, a live tile for the Windows Phone Store and an option for sandboxing applications. In addition, Update 1/GDR1 also includes new VPN and Bluetooth features for enterprise users, as well as support for interactive cases such as HTC's "Dot View" case, larger "phablet" screen resolutions such as 1280x800, 540x960 qHD and 1280x768 and the Qualcomm QuickCharge 2.0 standard. Microsoft has made several changes to Internet Explorer Mobile that brings the browser experience closer in line with the experiences on Safari (iOS) and Chrome (Android). To accomplish this, Microsoft moved away from open standards and adopted non-standard features used in Safari and Chrome, implemented browser detection, improved page rendering by detecting legacy WebKit features, brought support for HTML 5, and fixed interoperability issues with bad HTML code. GDR2 Information regarding GDR2 (also referred to as Update 2) was released in February 2015 it was revealed that Microsoft was working on a 2nd update for Windows Phone 8.1 that would provide increased security for OEM's, add extra languages and additional technology support and is also reported to bring an anti-theft mode. Windows 10 Mobile The first Technical Preview for Windows 10 Mobile was made available for download to select Lumia smartphones as of February 12, 2015. Additional Lumia devices were supported in subsequent builds. Versions released after Build 10080, released on May 14, 2015, also work on the Windows Phone variant of the HTC One (M8). Although the M8 is currently the only non-Lumia Windows Phone included in the preview program as of build 10149 released on June 24, 2015, Microsoft has assured that future builds will add support for more non-Nokia, non-Microsoft Windows Phones, though not all devices will be included. No release date for the final version has been announced; Joe Belfiore confirmed that due to how the OS is being developed, it will not be released in parallel with PC editions of the platform. See also * Windows Phone * Windows 10 Mobile * Windows Mobile Category:Content Category:Windows Phone